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Post by Circe on Jun 20, 2018 17:46:30 GMT -6
"I have my reasons..." She said tersely, while the magic came easy as breathing, the control did not. That had lead to numerous incidents when she was a child, and she quickly learned it was best just not to use those particular talents. "It's not..." Catherine started to say then thought better of it. Her experience with the troubled kids had begun as her having been one herself, and while raising two out of her three nephews had not been easy, at least they had all turned out reasonably well. At least that's what she assumed, given she hadn't even spoken with Brandon in some time; not since the fall out from the Dragon Court. That in of itself had been difficult once the Prince and his consort had been given access to records that should have been sealed.
"Our system does the best it can. There is only one Councilor willing to take youth cases, and it is Blackwelder. Her docket is so far backlogged."
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Post by littlekreen on Jun 21, 2018 13:18:43 GMT -6
A disheveled short man with torn clothing sat at the desk of a perturbed officer. The homeless fellow wasn't listening to the man wanting answers instead the homeless man's side eye eavesdropped to the two talking about protecting nonhuman creatures. Mostly the officer was perturbed by the half-listening to his questions. The local LEO found the man sleeping with two 'pets' behind a building right under a camera. Besides the exotic creatures he really shouldn't have intuition had the LEO send him here for reasons they couldn't readily express. The silent man said nothing all the way from one office to here but by then the pets were elsewhere. The homeless man clearly wasn't happy about separation and threw a few scratches when they pried the pets away. Fingerprints identified him as a street meth head complete with matching gang tattoos, and a drug test that strangely passed with flying colors. They even ran it twice but indicators even matched his organ damage from medical files. The report really didn't describe what the 'exotic pets' actually were.
~~~
Flynn needed a way out of this enforcer hall that she knew wasn't a place she wanted to be. The shroud wasn't the glamor she knew some mages were using though her understanding was based on such a spell. The homeless man seen there was a faithful meaty recreation of the drugged wastrel. Encountered comatose a claw carefully poked and prodded to figure out how the muscles and bones moved underneath. Subtle design couldn't be done very fast even with several hours. A beating heart to fool cosmic horrors willfully ignorant of minutiae beyond approved faces didn't work when a target of intuition from the actual minutiae. A mountain of small errors from faint veins in the eye connected in wrong ways, a heartbeat out of order, skin blemishes a little too regular, or her joints moving correctly but just farther than they ought to. The meat seemed to beat and live in spite of itself even given a careful inspection of aura it even said human even bleeding their red blood. Donning the shroud then getting a woken up by a law enforcement keen to things was bad luck. Then they took her children away.
That last part gave the growing irritation with the far and deep and Flynn turned to make a comment at Catherine and Rahal with a smoker's ragged throat, "At least they don't send your children to the Zoo."
"Look, Bill, you can't keep exotic pets on the street. They're not your children. You're lucky you weren't caught with any narcotics or weapons in your rucksack," said the man from behind Flynn.
Mostly Flynn worried about one of them running across this Bill, whom might be waking up by now, before they let her go.
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Post by demikara on Jun 21, 2018 18:17:43 GMT -6
"I know. And I'm only able to temporarily place the children." Though he did his best. Then the other person there spoke, and the mage looked to the being, carefully, and frowned, then murmured a spell in arabic and sighed. "Officer!" Rahal turned on his best smile to the officer with 'Bill' and it was a very good smile indeed, jsut the right amount of charm. "Glad you brought Bill over. You said there were exotic pets with him? You'll need to go get them as well, and bring them here. This is clearly a case in MCU's jurisdiction." And he gave the man another smile, this one making it clear that yes, he should do as Rahal said and yes, the mage, smelling of alcohol and all, was perfectly serious.
Now Rahal turned his attention to Flynn. "Bill was it? Why don't you come with Catherine and I until they get...your children you say?" If the officer involved thought that the kids were exotic pets, well. This was definitely a case of a magical being who didn't glamour up their kids. "How about we talk some. You can tell us what happened, and why you were brought in. Officer? When you're getting the kids, bring the rucksack and it's contents as well. MCU will need to take a look." A kids case. Was Molly on the clock yet? If not, he could stall until she was, as he was not an actual officer, just a contractor and Catherine did NOT deal with kids that weren't hers in some way.
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Post by Circe on Jun 22, 2018 0:58:03 GMT -6
Catherine meanwhile glared daggers at Rahal, she was exhausted and getting involved in anything else was not high on her priority list. Grabbing the mage tightly by the arm, she steered him back over towards an empty desk. "I have only have 3 hours of sleep as of yesterday. We, specifically me, are not getting involved." She stated grumpily. Catherine had absolutely zero interest in dealing with whatever this Bill person wanted and their kids. Did Rahal not remember that she didn't do kids? That she kicked all cases involving juveniles down to Bronson?
"Call Bronson.. give it to her. Tell her I said so." Catherine said, looking over at "Bill" and his accompanying officer. "Now go bloody home mage..." She added before turning to leave. A personal day to sleep off whatever insanity was brewing would be good, and with Alexander gone most days, there would be blessed silence. A silence that didn't involve office squabbles and tantrums from lower less experienced officers.
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Post by littlekreen on Jun 22, 2018 9:20:48 GMT -6
The officer just sighed and nodded eager to get the man off his docket, "You know what? Fine. I can get Bill's pets sent over to MCU from the Zoo it's up to them to release. Bill, I don't have anything to hold you on just don't sleep on secure buildings, okay? I'm just glad you're off the drugs. Here's your things."
Flynn nodded with Bill's scruffy face and took the leathery green backpack from the officer's desk whom started filling transfer forms to close one of many cases. The male seemed to have a keener awareness of her shroud and at least this got her out of black water. A proper mage, perhaps! Quick to sling the ruck over the shoulder it was more composed of a giant stitched seaweed leaf than a creature's cured skin. The stitches had a faint glow with fraying edges were more an errant growth than threads.
The raspy smoker's voice smiled with a mouth too full of teeth to be Bill spoke quietly, "Thank you. Not much to pay you back all my things went to keeping my newborns alive and awake. I can tend to them once I get them back."
Ruck put down on the floor Flynn opened the ruck with rough hands to reveal a host of scavenged objects clad in the spent wrappings of a month worth of rations. There was a small cobalt metal tin on one ruck wall with hatch patterns of runes embossed into the inside. Flynn removed it and swished a diphanous blue fluid inside loosing hollow whispering noises at the disturbance.
A scarred man's face looked at Catherine then to Rahal a subtle fluting voice not drowned out by a whisper, "I can give you what remains of my sleep reserve to your friend, Catherine. I know tired Far and Deep when I see them. I have about half a rest left. Boon for boon."
Bill made a palm up pumping motion as a shrug, "I can't replace enough anyway. I will need the bottle back."
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Post by demikara on Jun 22, 2018 14:36:45 GMT -6
The mage snorted. "We nothing, yeah yeah. Bronson will handle it. I'll stick around for her so someone is waiting with Bill, here. Rest well." He told Catherine's departing back. It wouldn't do to leave someone unaccompanied. "And I'm pretty sure Catherine is very picky about any elixirs of any sort she drinks." He told Bill. "We're just doing our jobs, and tend not to accept boons while doing them. How about I sit with you while we wait on Bronson?" Bronson never took long. She'd be here a few minutes after the phone call, given how much she cheated.
The mage was right too. Molly Bronson cheated the hell out of going places. Still, it would be good for her to be fine. "Hey, if you come with me, I can get you into one of the rooms, and you can drop the glamour covering you, if you'd like. I know it can be a nuisance holding them up, for some people." There. Just enough to be polite, not enough to offend. He didn't know enough about this person to know their strengths or weakness, and so it was better to play it like he was with a fae. Accept nothing, imply nothing, say nothing of consequence.
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Post by littlekreen on Sept 9, 2018 18:24:51 GMT -6
'Bill' canted his head back and forth perhaps raising the awareness to that his eyeballs never moved. Flynn's own of a type quite fixed in place. The bottle went into the pack again by touch carefully sealed and buckled the gaps tightened shut against inner ribs. A forest green backpack with heavy lip clasps built for tight water seals.
A short bow at the hips Flynn added, "We are supposed to pay for the deeds of Far and Deep to us. I did not mean to offend."
The voice was quieter as the scruffy fellow smelling of kelp and dust edged closer to add, "I cannot breach the husk without having to find Bill again to use him. The husk still stands so he has not killed himself with blood poisoning yet. I cannot stand up as straight as you humans so I cannot disguise myself otherwise. They put my whelps in a cage I do not think they will do so to me."
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Post by demikara on Sept 9, 2018 19:06:36 GMT -6
"Then we can get you to the reserve at some point, by the sounds of it. There's a good community there of people who don't blend in well with the mundanes." He said simply. "You'd be able to raise your whelps there without needed glamours at all for any of you." That was the major selling point of the reserve, even if it wasn't ideal. "And since you can cast a glamour, of sorts, you could leave whenever." The reserve was valuable, even if it wasn't ideal. No reserve was. Still, everyone knew that the mundanes...well, they wouldn't and couldn't deal with some things. They were too fragile a people. The people of the Unseen were stronger.
"I'm not familiar with the term Far and Deep. Could you tell me more?" He rather liked learning after all. And they had a few minutes given Molly would likely have to get dressed for work if she wasn't already.
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Post by littlekreen on Sept 9, 2018 21:16:25 GMT -6
Clasping both withered hands he pumped her fist upward the Reacher chattering eagerly, "A place where I don't have to wear the husk, yes. Good. I am a bloodwrit and you Willed cannot etch on me inside a husk. I can find a way to get home."
She counted to three then looked at her hand mildly confused putting up a fourth finger after a furrowed staring brow, "As that is, there are.... ((RrRrRr)) four enclaves, Far and deep, With the Storm High, the Red Lady's Children, and Superior. The Far and Deep protect us against the spikers descended from the one that touched Grandfather Teeth. They bleed and fight eternally to keep the featherless spikers away so we give to them for their services when away from the blue line. It is not a bribe."
Hand over the center of the chest Flynn continued the old man's eyebrow raised to reconcile a later thought, "I am of With the Storm High. We search the place beyond the world for tools to bring home. This place is beyond... the place beyond the world. It had writing in the red lady's language. A moment."
Bill's hand reached back to a pull out a small notebook from the pack binding was the same green material. Writing however on thin pale pages was white the whole of the book smelled like kelp. Small enough that Bill's fingers fumbled with the book vast quantities of sketches and miniscule foreign writing passed by. Glimpses of feathered saurids some rather muscular and in heavy armor until arriving to empty pages and backtracking.
The finger traced perfectly copied Sylvan the translation ceased that she could speak it fluently, "((He-Who-Walks-Without)). I thought it meant the Red Lady was sending us home. It was sandy dark then I was in garbage. Away from my clutch mother trying to steal my whelps at least. The only to have killed and ate her twice already but it is still not enough."
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Post by demikara on Sept 10, 2018 4:55:49 GMT -6
Rahal followed very little of that, but it sounded like this one was far from home and needed to get back, at least. Though he was a little concerned that this person had managed to kill and eat someone twice and they still returned. Oh not,t he killing and eating bit. He had been raised by vampires, he was hardly squeamish. But the returning bit was not good. "Alright. Well, we'll get you set up at the reserve and I'll see about finding some..." judging by the feathered dinosaur like beings, somewhere very far from here. "extra-planar travel books possibly. Sergeant Bronson is actually an expert in that field so she may be able to help."
Sergeant Bronson arrived at that moment, appearing from nowhere largely because she had been assured the Warden was not in the building, and that meant she could get away with it. Molly looked at the scene curiously and smiled. "Hello sir?" She assumed sir. "Hey Ty. I was told you needed some help, sir, with your children and possibly getting to a safe place." She could do both of those. She was given most of the child cases after all, entirely because she was, unlike most of the office it seemed, good with kids.
She smiled. "Your children are on their way. It'll be about thirty minutes from my understanding. But we'll get them here shortly and we can find a place for you to stay and be safe once they're here." It was just a matter of finding a place really. If the kids didn't look like human kids, she could probably weave a glamour for them, tied to an amulet, but if that didn't work then they'd probably have to go to the reserve.
"It's Rahal to you Molly. Rahal. Only my family gets away with Ty."
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Post by littlekreen on Sept 10, 2018 6:17:33 GMT -6
Bill's laugh was more Flynn's fluted titter and toothy smile turning to look at Molly as scarred hands scratched at an arm, "*khatketket* The husk is male I am not. My two whelps are good males but we all bite!"
Sleeve pulled back on one arm it showed a watch that looked more as parchment as Bill's raspy voice asked then started counting, "How many of the the small ticks is a minute? The husk does not mimic metal things well."
Arm spun over Flynn looked at Bill's arm full of rows of red marks. This time one was black spreading outward up a vein a portent from the husk that the stupid male wouldn't survive his next fix. If he died then her husk would go with him ejecting her like a split bag of refuse.
Flynn scoffed though it sounded a bit like a bark now, "*HaRrR* The Bill I got this husk from will not survive past his next sleep whenever that is. Hopefully my children come soon. Rahal says you are a willed of the underworks, yes? I wish to create one to get home."
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Post by demikara on Sept 10, 2018 6:42:33 GMT -6
"Ah, well. We should get you to the reserve once your kids are here then, if your glamour is going to split." Molly twitched her fingers by her eyes and whistled. "Not quite a glamour is it? This is good work. Physical, reacts to your emotions appropriately...you do good work." As for the under works. Molly ran a hand through her hair. "It's been some time since I've heard them called underworks. Gives me an idea of whereabouts your home is though, so that's helpful." Molly, unlike most of the team, was very used to parsing through what others meant from other planes, even if she kept it hush-hush that there was more than the fae and human planes out there. No need to panic anyone.
"Sixty ticks is one minute. You'll need to wait about 30-60 ticks. They're in a car, a moving vehicle, so I can't just slip in to get them." Moving vehicles were some of the best wards out there, though she would also never admit that. She couldn't actually get in moving vehicles going over about 10 mph. "The reserve has a good spot for underworks. I'll take you and your kids there myself through a different set of them." No need to move them another way.
Rahal watched carefully and smiled. "I think I'll leave you with Molly. She seems to be exactly the person you need to get home." With that he nodded to both and left. He needed some sleep himself, along with a shit ton of water and a hangover cure. Ugh, why had he gotten so - oh yeah. Torin. He shoulders slumped and he sighed. No more apprenticeships. He'd stick to a damn near hermit life.
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Post by littlekreen on Sept 14, 2018 14:46:28 GMT -6
Bill's laugh this time was fare more human, "Ha! Children of Teeth won't be fooled by whimsy spells even if the lesser creatures might. Grandfather Teeth will eat you through them. A Reacher's husk must be meat and it must be human. They are not as aware of the fine details as your Far and Deep are."
He held up both hands an identical sworl on each one, "It's the little details that are hard and I spent most of the mutant wolf I ate in flesh. I am one of the best reachers but nobody is that good. It is one of my few natural spells. You Willed scribe the others onto me to use. I'll need to get more from a Willed as mine have all faded badly getting here."
He turns the small book fumbling at the spine extracting a feather from the small binding. Drained up from the nib the feather turned a bright crimson in the withered hands. Critical eyes looked at it for a moment then started to write down the time increments on a new page of the journal. The pages raised a deep brown line as he wrote down what She'd said.
Waggling the red feather he raised a brow, "You are red bloods like the male I got my whelps from? Hm. So the large metal things everywhere are cars. They'd best learn to swim where I am from."
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Post by demikara on Sept 14, 2018 15:25:59 GMT -6
"My own is meat and bleeds like a human, but it's a spell." She grinned at that. "Long lasting too. I can drop it if I need to, but I prefer not to." she liked her spell up, her glamour solid. She could change it, but it was energy intensive. Molly ate like a pig and was still just this side of too thin. Between her exercising and her magic, she ate plenty of calories every day. Far above the recommended amount. "I am a red blood, but not like the other red bloods. And the large metal things are cars. Most cannot swim here and things are too far to walk." Best learn to swim.
That meant it was more than likely one of the water worlds. Between that and underworks, she could just about pinpoint the right sector. She'd have to consult her grimoire once they made it to the reserve, but she was pretty certain it sounded familiar. Good. She'd be able to get this one and their kids home safe. Until she could pinpoint it exactly though, it was safer for them to stay on the reserve.
There was no need to risk their lives. As far as the humans were concerned, most of the unseen looked mostly human, most of the time. That was safer for everyone involved and she knew it. she also wished that the Secret had never been spilled, controlled and sanctioned or not. It wasn't safe. She knew it wasn't safe. Hell, Molly was still waiting for the other shoe to drop on gay rights and that had been getting better longer than the mundanes knew of the unseen.
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Post by littlekreen on Sept 15, 2018 13:15:06 GMT -6
Bill nodded in agreement though not quite the same thought, "Yes, leaving the husk is disorienting and takes time. I eat them after to take some real food back of what I spent. I've never eaten human before I wonder what Bill's husk will taste like. I will give the whelps some there is a lot of of him. They are blue-bloods not like their male sire."
Eying his own arm Bill gave it a long lick, "Salty and oily. Bleh, do all of you taste like licking old funeral jerky? We blue-bloods have a dry sour taste not safe for you red-bloods to eat."
Sat on his haunches a bit to far he windmilled to grasp a table leg as Flynn was used to a tail, "So much steel used in everything these cars are fast and sturdy. Though I am starting to get hungry. Is there meat here while the whelps come?"
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